Means for feeding shoe stiffener blanks into machines for moulding the same



Sept. 27, 1955 Filed May 22, 1955 H. A. R. FORS'TER 2,718,649 MEANS FOR FEEDING SHOE STIFFENER BLANKS INTO MACHINES FOR MOULDING THE SAME 6 Sheets-Sheet l lllllllluul Sept. 27, 1955 H. A. R. FORSTER MEANS FOR FEEDING SHOE STIF'FENER BLANKS INTO MACHINES FOR MOULDING THE SAME 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May .22, 1955 mv MM iv 9\ 3 1 R 8 Q Wm Q #1 v f 0' Sept. 27, 1955 H. A. R. FORSTER MEANS FOR FEEDING SHOE STIFFENER BLANKS Filed May 22, -1955 6 Shqets-Sheet 3 1 fl Q om W W Z WW 5 r 9 mm z H G 3 ,F W m w vm 7 m 0 \UX F mm) H mlllllm. a I I I I N .N. \W :QP q \T/ m w Km \m QQQN I mm mm .mm 9 v WJ M 2 mm 1 mm w u Sept. 27, 1955 H. A. R. FORSTER 2,718,649

MEANS FOR FEEDING SHOE STIFFENER BLANKS INTO MACHINES FOR MOULDING THE SAME Filed May 22, 1955 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 Se t. 27, 1955 H. A. R. FORSTER MEANS FOR FEEDING SHOE STIFFENER BLANKS INTO MACHINES FOR MOULDING THE SAME Filed May 22, 1953 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 United States Patent Ofiice 2,718,649 Patented Sept. 27, 1955 "l 2,718,649 MEANS FOR FEEDING SHOE STIFFENER BLANKS INTO MACHINES FOR MOULDIN G THE SAME Henry A. R. Forster, Glen Hills, Blaby, Leicester, England, assignor to Albert Pemberton & Company Limited, Leicester, England, a British company Application May 22, 1953, Serial No. 356,615 Claims priority, application Great Britain May 23, 1952 16 Claims. (Cl. 12-66) This invention relates to means for feeding shoe stiffener blanks, more especially heel, i. e. counter, stiffener blanks into machines for moulding the same to shape.

Although there is no limitation in this respect, it is principally the intention to embody the invention in amechanism for feedingheel stiffener blanks, either in an initially fiat or in a partly processed condition, into a moulding machine or press of the type comprising, in combination, a vertical carrier for a central, appropriately shaped male mould part customarily called and hereinafter for convenience referred to as the leg, a pair of co-operating mould jaws arranged at respectively opposite sides of, and adapted to rock inwardly relatively to, the leg for the purpose of gripping, compressing and moulding to the desired shape a shoe stiffener blank fed into the mould, and a vertically movable wiper plate which is adapted to be moved down over the front of the mould for turning over a marginal edge portion of the moulded blank left projecting from the closed mould suchwise as to produce on the stiffener the customary flange or seat.

Shoe stiffener blanks of the kind concerned are usually made of leather, animal and/or vegetable fibre, synthetic or any other suitable material conditioned for the process of moulding, and an example of a partly processed blank is one the appropriate edge of which has been skived or/ and has had the straight marginal portion thereof which is to provide the customary flange or seat rolled to corrugate or similarly form the same.

Now heretofore shoe stiffener blanks have usually been inserted either entirely or partly by hand into the mould of a stiffener moulding machine. The primary object of the present invention is to provide a simply constructed, economically produced and efficient mechanism for automatically feeding such blanks into a moulding machine.

The automatic feeding mechanism constituting this invention comprises, essentially, a base adapted to be supported in position in front of a stiffener moulding machine, and a feed head mounted on the base, the said head including a hopper to accommodate a stack of stiffener blanks, a blank-supporting rail suitably located adjacent to the hopper and arranged to extend forwardly of the latter towards the mould of the moulding machine, and a feeder member which is movable back and forth relatively to the rail from a position at the back of the hopper, to a position at the leading end of the rail, and vice versa.

The feed head is also movable as a unit relatively to the base towards and away from the mould of the moulding machine.

The described movements of the feeder member relatively to the blank-supporting rail and the movement of the whole feed head relatively to the fixed base may take place either simultaneously or in any other appropriate timed relation. Thus, each time the feeder member moves forward from behind the hopper towards the outer end of the rail, the feed head is also moved bodily in the same direction towards the mould of the adjacent stiffener moulding machine such movement of the head either preceding or accompanying the movement of the feeder member. Conversely, as or at about the time the feeder member returns to its original inoperative position behind the hopper, the feed head also moves back clear of the moulding machine. These conjoint movements represent an important feature of the feeding mechanism.

The construction and operation of the stiffener blank feeding mechanism is preferably such that each time the feeder member moves forward from behind the hopper it separates or collects the appropriate one of the stiffener blanks from the contained stack and pushes this blank before it along the blank-supporting rail and towards the outer end of the latter into the mould, the related forward movement of the feed head as a whole serving to position the rail sufliciently close to the mould to enable this to happen. The blank is so inserted by the feeder member as to leave a marginal portion thereof projecting from the mould, and it is this marginal portion which is subsequently acted upon by the aforementioned wiper plate of the moulding machine to produce the flange or seat of the moulded stiffener. Each time the feeder member, after pushing a blank into the mould, moves back to its original position behind the hopper to collect the next blank in the stack, the feed head is also moved back bodily with the object of retracting the outer end of the blank-supporting rail sufficiently far from the mould as to provide a clear space not only for operation of the wiper plate but also ejection from the machine of a finished stiffener.

In the preferred arrangement, the hopper is disposed in an upright position, with the supporting rail arranged horizontally or nearly so beneath the lower open end thereof. Accordingly, or" a stack of superimposed stiffener blanks loaded into the hopper, the lowest one rests on the supporting rail and may conveniently be balanced on a level position by means of a pair of suitably spaced elements mounted on the body of the feed head and arranged for contact with the underside of the lowest blank at opposite sides of the rail. These elements may consist of fingers provided on a pair of fulcrumed arms which are suitably connected and have associated therewith a screw whereby the height of the fingers can be adjusted.

Now, prior to inserting a shoe counter stiffener blank into the mould of a machine of the type hereinbefore referred to, it is necessary to bend the blank almost double from its initially fiat condition into inverted U-form, that is to say roughly to its final shape. In this regard, an important feature of the present invention resides in the provision on the automatic feeding mechanism of means combined with the blank-supporting rail and adapted, whenever the feeder member is moved forwards to push a blank along the rail, to engage the said blank and bend it over and around the rail to the required form. The means to this end may conveniently consist of a pair of rods or bars arranged one at each side of, and inclined relatively to, the supporting rail, the idea being that as the feeder member pushes a blank along the rail this blank is forced between the inclined rods or bars and the rail and bent over the latter with a camming action.

The feeder member may with advantage be provided with extensions so disposed as to act on and apply pressure to the downwardly extending portions of the bent blank. These extensions accordingly apply the considerable eifort necessary to insert a blank into the mould and, incidentally, maintain the blank level during such insertion.

The seat depth, i. e. the amount of the blank left projecting from the mould, may be controlled by determining the extent of the forward movement of the feeder member in relation to the mould. In this regard, the leading end of the rail may be furnished with a stop or abutment for limiting the forward movement of the feeder member. Accordingly, variation of the seat depth may be effected either by adjusting the position of the rail, longitudinally,

in the feed head, or by varying the extent of the forward movement of the feed head relatively to the base or/ and by adjusting the latter longitudinally in relation to the mould.

The power for operating the mechanism may be derived from either a hydraulic or a pneumatic system including cylinder and piston arrangements associated with the feed head and the feeder member. Alternatively, the mechanism may be operated electrically, e. g. by solenoid action. Or a purely mechanical system of operating connections may be provided.

The entire feed head and base may be so adjustable, laterally, as to bring the blank-supporting rail into correct alignment with the mould in the moulding machine. A suitable adjustment may, moreover, be provided to enable the mechanism to deal with blanks of different thicknesses.

As to the hopper, this may, if desired, consist of a framework of bars or rods which may be readily adjustable to receive stacks of different sized blanks. A hopper of any other appropriate form may, however, be adopted.

To further position a blank, the face of the feeder member may, if necessary, or desirable, be furnished with appropriately disposed clips.

The feeder member may itself be located and mounted to slide on the blank-supporting rail. By making the said rail of any appropriate non-circular shape in cross section, the feeder member can readily be prevented from turning relatively to the rail. Alternatively, the rail may be made circular in cross section in which instance an associated guide rail would be required to assist in guiding the feeder member and maintaining its correct disposition relatively to the blank-supporting rail.

In order that the invention may be more clearly understood and readily carried into practical efiect, a specific constructional form of the automatic blank feeding mecha nism applied to a stiffener moulding machine of the type herein referred to will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a general perspective view of so much of the moulding machine as is necessary to illustrate the application thereto of the said blank feeding mechanism, the mould being shown open and the feed head in its inoperative, i. e., retracted, position,

Figure 2 is a side elevational view of the mechanism with adjacent parts of the moulding machine shown in vertical section,

Figure 3 is a plan view, partly in section, corresponding to Figure 2,

Figure 4 is a longitudinal sectional view, taken on the line IV-IV of Figure 3, depicting the principal components of the feeding mechanism,

Figure 5 is a crosssectional view taken on the line V--V of Figure 2, and

Figures 6 to 8 are diagrammatic part sectional side views illustrating successive stages in the operation of the feeding mechanism, and

Figure 9 is a diagrammatic view showing the wiper plate turning over the projecting portion of the blank.

Like parts are designated by similar reference characters throughout the drawings.

In Figure 1 it will be seen that the mould M of the stiffener moulding machine to which the invention is applied comprises a pair of mould jaws 1 arranged at opposite sides of, and adapted to rock relatively to, a leg 2. At 3 (Figure 1) is indicated one of two fluid-operated cylinder and piston devices for moving the mould jaws 1 into and out of co-operative relation with the leg 2, whilst the numeral 4 indicates the vertically movable wiper plate which, in this particular example, is also operated by a fluid-operated cylinder and piston device 5, 6. The carrier for the leg 2 is in the form of a platform 7 which is adapted to be raised and lowered, preparatory to and immediately after a moulding operation, by means of a main hydraulically operated ram R. Thus, each time a stiffener blank B is fed into the mould M, the leg 2 is raisedinitially for the purpose of properly positioning it between the co-operating mould jaws 1 immediately prior to the latter being rocked inwardly to exert the side pressure and finally for applying the principal moulding pressure, whereas at the completion of each moulding operation the leg is lowered again simultaneously with outward movement of the mould jaws. Although this forms no part of the present invention, it is convenient here to mention that the leg 2 is pivotally mounted at 8 and is connected with a fluid pressure-operated device 9 (Figure 2) for effecting ejection of the leg from the mould M, in the manner indicated in chain lines in Figure 9, soon after the said leg has commenced to move down.

The automatic blank feeding mechanism applied to the machine comprises a base 10 and a feed head which is mounted on this base and is designated generally by the numeral 11. The base is in the form of a slide which is mounted for adjustment laterally upon a support 12 in turn adapted for adjustment longitudinally upon a tablelike carrier 13. In this regard the opposite sides of the base 10 are formed with depending dovetail portions 10a engaged in a correspondingly formed slideway 12a cut in the support 12. A transverse screw 14 having its plain ends mounted for rotation in the dovetail portions 19a, as shown in Figure 5, extends through an appropriately tapped hole formed in nut-like protuberance 15 projecting up from the bottom of the slideway 12a. One end of the screw 14 projects beyond the adjoining side of the base 10 and has provided thereon a peripherally knurled adjusting knob 16. Thus, by appropriate manipulation of the knob 16, the feed head 11 can be adjusted laterally to bring it into correct alignment with the mould M. Similarly, and as depicted in Figures 4 and 5, the support 12 is in the nature of a slide the opposite ends of which are formed with depending dovetail portions 12b engaged in a correspondingly formed slideway 13a cut in the carrier 13. A further transverse screw 17, having its plain ends mounted for rotation in the dovetail portions 12b, extends through a tapped hole formed in a nut-like protuberance 18 on the carrier 13. The screw 17 is furnished with an adjusting knob 17a manipulation of which adjusts the position of the feed head 11 longitudinally in relation to the mould M.

The carrier 13 is provided with laterally directed coaxial trunnions which extend outwardly through upwardly extending and spaced limbs 19a of a centrally bossed bifurcated or forked component 19. Secured in the central boss 1% of the said component is a fulcrum column 20 which is arranged to extend downwardly into, and to turn within, a bearing 21 provided in a forward extension 7:: of the aforementioned carrier platform 7. The column 20 is also adjustable vertically within the boss 1%. The outer ends of the trunnions are screw-threaded to receive nuts 22 whereby the entire unit comprising the base 10, the feed head 11, the support 12 and the table-like carrier 13 is fixed, after an adjustment, in relation to the forked component 19. By virtue of such an adjustment the efiective height of the feed head 11 and the angle at which it is set in a vertical plane with respect to the mould M can be varied within precise limits. Readily releasable catch or equivalent means are provided to lock the fulcrum column 20 within the bearing 21, with the feed head in its operative position, the idea being that upon release, the unit can be swung clear of the mould M about the axis of the pin, as occasion demands, and as depicted in chain lines in Figure 3. As will be appreciated, during a blank moulding operation, the feeder head 11, being mounted on the same carrier platform 7 as the leg 2, moves up and down together with the latter.

The base 10 is horizontally disposed or substantially so and is formed not only with upstanding longitudinally extending side flanges 10b, but also with upstanding front and rear lugs 10c and 10d respectively. The base is, therefore, in the nature of a shallow tray and serves as a slideway for a more or less square shaped lower slide portion 23a of the main casting 23 of the feed head 11. This casting is maintained in the base by means of steel strips 24 which are attached to the tops of the side flanges 10b and, as illustrated in Figure 5, are of a width suflicient to extend inwardly a short distance over the top of the slide portion 23a. Articulated at 25 (see Figure 4) to the back of the lower slide portion 23a and extending rearwardly from the latter and through the rear lug ltld on the base 10 is a rod carrying a piston 27 mounted for reciprocation in a pneumatic cylinder 28. This cylinder is fixed to the lug 10d. The top of the main casting 23 is formed with a pair of comparatively widely spaced upstanding lugs or ears 29 which are drilled to receive a fixed cross shaft 30. The opposite ends of the said cross shaft 30 extend well beyond the outer sides of the upstanding lugs or ears 29 (see Figure 3). Mounted for adjustment pivotally on the cross shaft extensions are forwardly directed arms 31 serving to carry opposed parts 32 of an upright hopper indicated generally by the reference letter H. These hopper parts 32 are spaced apart somewhat and are adjustable, within limits, towards and away from one another. Fulcrumed at 33 upon the outer sides of the main casting 23 is a pair of suitably bent arms 34 to the lower leading ends of which are secured fingers 35. The upwardly directed tail ends of the arms 34 are connected by a cross rod 36 which is tapped centrally between its ends to receive a vertical adjusting screw 37. The lower end of this screw is provided with a foot 38 arranged to bear upon a further pneumatic cylinder presently to be described. A compression spring 39 is interposed between the underside of the cross rods 36 and the top of the foot 38. The lowermost one of a stack of stiffener blanks B loaded into the hopper H rests upon and is balanced by the two spaced fingers the latter and adjustable heightwise by means of the screw 37. On the top of the main casting 23 is formed a longitudinally extending bored boss 40 which is disposed beneath and at right angles to the cross shaft 30. In this boss, which incidentally is located centrally between the lugs or ears 29, is secured the inner end of a blanksupporting rail 41 of circular form in cross-section. Ths said rail extends forwardly for some distance in front of the main casting 23 and at or near its outer end is furnished with a downwardly projecting stop pin 42. Mounted to slide back and forth along the blank-supporting rail 41 is a feeder member 43 in the form of a thick vertical plate. The central portion of the lowermost blank B in the hopper H rests on the rail, and, as

shown more clearly in Figures 4 and 5, the top edge of the feeder plate 43 projects up proud of the rail to a small extent only approximating the thickness of a blank. In order to maintain the feeder plate 43 level, its lower end is drilled to engage a guide rail 44 which extends beneath and parallel to the blank-supporting rail 41 and is fixed at its inner end within a further bore in the main casting. Within the feeder plate 43 is secured the leading end of a rod 45 which extends between and parallel to the blank-supporting and guide rails 41 and 44 respectively and is slidable through a hole drilled in the main casting 23. The opposite ends of the rod 45 which extends to the rear of the main casting 23, carries a piston 46 reciprocable in a further pneumatic cylinder 47 fixed to the back of the said casting. The cylinder 47 is the one upon which the foot 38 of the screw 37 bears, and the two pneumatic cylinders 28 and 47 may be arranged in tandem.

Adjustably mounted upon the outer ends of the cross shaft 38 are two widely spaced forwardly extending arms 48, the leading ends of which are connected by and serve to carry a transverse bar 49. The said bar is itself adjustable angularly in relation to the arms 48, and has attached to the back thereof, centrally between its ends as illustrated in Figures 3, 4 and 5, a flat pad 50 of rubber or the like, the lower edge of which is disposed very near to the blank-supporting rail 41. The pad 50 is provided to prevent. more than one stiffener blank B at a time being pushed right along the rail for insertion into the mould M of the moulding machine. Carried by, and extending forwardly from the front of, the transverse bar 49 (which latter is, of course, located above the blank-supporting rail 41) are two parallel spaced relatively thin and comparatively short rods 51. As will be seen in Figures 3 and 5, the rods 51 are arranged one at each side of and are inclined relatively to the supporting rail 41. This inclination can be varied, to vary the extent to which a stiffener blank B is bent in two over the rail 41, by an adjustment of the transverse bar 49 between the carrier arms 48 therefor.

In the illustrated example, the lower end of the feeder plate 43 is formed with rearwardly curved or sloping extensions such as 43a which project laterally from opposite sides of the said plate for engagement with the downwardly extending portions B of a bent blank B (see Figure 5). The rear portion of the top surface 43b of the feeder plate 43 is sloped off flush or substantially so with the top of the blank-supporting rail 41 as depicted in Figure 4.

The front lug of the tray-like base 10 is tapped to receive an adjustable abutment screw 52 which, as shown in Figures 2 and 4, is furnished with a knurled knob 53 and combined with a lock nut 54. The extent of the forward movement of the feed head 11, resulting from the admission of compressed air into the cylinder 28 behind the piston 27, is determined by contact of the front of the lower slide portion 23a of the main casting 23 with the abutment screw 52. Accordingly, the precise point to which the leading end of the rail 41 is moved, and hence also the position occupied by the front face of the feeder plate 43 at the termination of a forward stroke of the latter, is variable, by an adjustment of the screw 52, and controls the amount of a blank B left projecting from the mould B (i. e. the seat depth). An adjustment in the same sense is, of course, obtainable by a manipulation of the screw 17 by means of a knob 18 to shift the support 12 longitudinally upon the carrier 13, although, generally speaking, the screw 17 would only be used for initially setting the head as a whole in its correct position in front of the mould M.

In Figure 6 the feed head 11 is shown fully retracted from the mould M, that is to say with the back of the casting 23 in contact with the rear lug 10d of the base 10, and with the leading ends of the rails 41 and 44 well clear of the mould. Figure 7 represents, in purely diagrammatic fashion, the completion of the initial stage in a blank-feeding operation, which consists in moving the feed head 11 forward, by the pressure of compressed air on the back of the piston 27, until the slide portion 23a of the casting 23 comes into contact with the front lug 10c (or rather with the abutment screw 52 omitted from this diagram), and the leading ends of the rails 41 and 44 are close to the mould. Next, and as depicted in Figure 8, the feeder plate 43 is pushed right forward along the rails 41 and 44, by the pressure of compressed air upon the back of the piston 46 in the cylinder 47, until the said plate comes into contact with the downwardly projecting stop pin 42. The feeder plate 43, in moving forward from behind the hopper H, separates the lowest blank B from the contained stack and pushes it along the rail 41 and into the mould. Successive stages in the bending of the blank B into inverted U-form, by means of the two rods 51, are shown at a, b and c in Figure 8, and in this figure the portion of the fed blank projecting from the mould is indicated at B.

In Figure 9, the projecting portion B of the blank has been turned over to form the stifiener seat by means of the descending wiper plate 4.

It is, however, to be clearly understood that the forward movement of the feed member 43 need not necessarily follow the forward movement of the feed head 11; the two movements may, if desired, overlap or even take place simultaneously or substantially so.

What I claim then is:

1. Mechanism for automatically feeding shoe stiffener blanks into a stiffener moulding machine comprising, in combination, a base adapted to be supported in position in front of such a machine, and a feed head which is mounted on and is movable relatively to the base in directions towards and away from the mould, the said head including a hopper to accommodate a stack of stiffener blanks, a rail for supporting a blank which rail is located adjacent to the hopper and arranged to extend forwardly of the latter towards the mould of the machine, and a feeder member for feeding blanks one at a time into the mould and which for this purpose is movable back and forth relatively to the said rail from a position at the back of the hopper to a position at the leading end of the rail, and vice versa.

2. Mechanism for automatically feeding shoe stiffener blanks into a stiffener moulding machine comprising, in combination, a base adapted to be supported in position in front of such a machine, and a feed head which is mounted on and is movable relatively to the base in directions towards and away from the mould, the said head including an upright hopper which is open at the lower end and serves to accommodate a stack of stiffener blanks, a substantially horizontally disposed rail for supporting a blank, said rail being located beneath the lower open end of the hopper and extending forwardly of the latter towards the mould of the machine, and a feeder member for feeding blanks one at a time into the mould and which for this purpose is movable back and forth relatively to the said rail from a position at the back of the hopper to a position at the leading end of the rail, and vice versa.

3. Automatic blank feeding mechanism according to claim 4, which is so designed that the lowest blank of a stack in the hopper rests on the blank-supporting rail, and wherein for balancing the said lowest blank in a level position there are provided two spaced elements which are associated with the feed head and arranged for contact with the underside of the blank at opposite sides of the said rail.

4. Automatic blank feeding mechanism according to claim 3, wherein the said elements consist of fingers provided on a pair of connected fulcrumed arms having associated therewith screw means whereby the height of the fingers can be adjusted.

5. Mechanism for automatically feeding shoe stiffener blanks into a stiffener moulding machine comprising, in

combination, a base adapted to be supported in position in front of such a machine, and a feed head which is mounted on and is movable relatively to the base in directions towards and away from the mould, the said head including a hopper to accommodate a stack of stiffener blanks, a rail for supporting a blank which rail is located adjacent to the hopper and arranged to extend forwardly of the latter towards the mould of the machine, a feeder member for feeding blanks one at a time into the mould and which for this purpose is movable back and forth relatively to the said rail from a position at the back of the hopper to a position at the lead ing end of the rail, and vice versa, and, in association with the blank-supporting rail, means adapted, whenever the feeder member is moved forwards to push a blank along the rail, to engage the blank and bend it over the rail into an inverted U-form.

6. Automatic blank feeding mechanism according to claim 5, wherein the said means consist of a pair of rods arranged one at each side of, and inclined relatively to, the blank-supporting rail.

7. Automatic blank feeding mechanism according to claim 5, wherein the feeder member is provided-with extensions so disposed as to act on and apply pressure to the downwardly extending portions of the bent blank.

8. Mechanism for automatically feeding shoe stiffener blanks into a stiffener moulding machine comprising, in combination, a base adapted to be supported in position in front of the mould of such a machine, a feed head which is mounted on and is movable relatively to the base in directions towards and away from the mould, the said head including a hopper to accommodate a stack of stiffener blanks, a rail located adjacent to the hopper for supporting a blank, said rail being furnished at its leading end with a stop and extending forwardly from the hopper towards the mould of the machine, a feeder member for feeding blanks one at a time into the mould and which for this purpose is movable back and forth relatively to the said rail from a position at the back of the hopper to a position determined by the aforesaid stop, and vice versa, and means enabling the position of the rail in relation to the mould to be varied for the purpose of controlling the amount of an inserted blank left projecting from the mould.

9. Automatic blank feeding mechanism according to claim 8, which includes means enabling the extent of the forward movement of the feed head relatively to the base to be varied, for the purpose described.

10. Automatic blank feeding mechanism according to claim 8, wherein means are provided for adjusting the base longitudinally in relation to the mould.

l1. Mechanism for automatically feeding shoe stiffener blanks into a stiffener moulding machine comprising, in combination, a base adapted to be supported in position in front of such a machine, a feed head which is mounted on and is movable relatively to the base in directions towards and away from the mould, a fluid pressure-operated cylinder and piston device for automatically moving the feed head back and forth on the base, the said feed head including a hopper to accommodate a stack of stiffener blanks, a rail for supporting a blank which rail is located adjacent to the hopper and arranged to extend forwardly of the latter towards the mould of the machine, a feeder member for feeding blanks one at a time into the mould and which for this purpose is movable back and forth relatively to the said rail from a position at the back of the hopper to a position at the leading end of the rail, and vice versa, and a further fluid pressure-operated cylinder and piston device operatively connected with said feeder member for so moving the feeder member.

12. Automatic blank feeding mechanism according to claim 11, wherein the feed head and the base are adjustable laterally to bring the blank-supporting rail into correct alignment with the mould.

13. Automatic blank feeding mechanism according to claim 11, wherein the feeder member is located on and mounted to slide along the blank-supporting rail.

14. Automatic blank feeding mechanism according to claim 11, wherein the blank-supporting rail is circular in cross section, and an associated guide rail is provided to assist in guiding the feeder member and maintaining itslcorrect disposition relatively to the blank-supporting rat 15. Automatic blank feeding mechanism according to claim 11, wherein the base is channelled and functions as a slideway for the lower portion of the body of the feed head.

16. Automatic blank feeding mechanism according to claim 11, wherein the base is in the form of a slide which is mounted for adjustment laterally upon a support in turn adapted for adjustment longitudinally upon a carrier which is adjustable pivotally about a horizontal axis.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,471,261 Heath Oct. 16, 1923 1,517,337 Ayer Dec. 2, 1924 2,648,853 Garyait Aug. 18, 1953 2,657,050 Metcalf Oct. 27, 1953 

